Indie Label Concerns Over Large Label Intervention In Black Plate And CD Distribution

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JAKARTA - Independent record labels expressed concern after major blacklist distribution company, Utopia Music, began to involve large labels in its funding.

Utopia Music is a company that physically distributes disks and CDs to retailers. In September 2022, the company acquired the UK's largest music distribution company, Cindram Novum.

Earlier in January, they also acquired fellow Proper Music Group distributors. Due to this acquisition, Utopia is now estimated to own 70 percent of the shares, making it a leading company selling footage to UK stores.

However, the problems involving the transfer of warehouses have had a negative impact on the action of the indie label. The Guardian reported that one of the UK's indie labels said one of its biggest artists was not in the Top 20 chart position.

In addition, the stock for release in September is temporarily undiscoverable, which means nine months of work and thousands of pounds wasted.

This creates a gap in the middle of the campaign. This could mean a 50 percent decline in sales, said a senior executive from the label.

The company is based in Switzerland, and is experiencing further financial problems this year. In the summer, Utopia summoned a liquidator for UK Utopia (R&D) operations.

They also requested financial assistance from major labels Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment for its separate distribution branch, UDS, to fund the transfer of warehouses from Aylesbury to Bicester.

There are currently concerns that big labels are having an unhealthy influence on the independent sector. This is in line with comments from the Vice President of the Utopia Distribution Service, Drew Hill.

Sebagian dari diri saya berharap sekarang saya tidak pergi ke [label besar] untuk mengatakan: 'Apakah Anda ingin ikut dalam perjalanan ini?'

Hill also talked about warehouse operations, which according to him is a 12-16-month process that should be reduced to 6 months due to the expiration date of Aylesbury's location rental.

"Nothing is missing," he said. According to Hill, 27 stock trailers "loaded without being properly manifested", which resulted in piles of loading and unloading. Furthermore, he reportedly emphasized that large labels were not given special treatment during the move, and called the incident a "very unfortunate situation".

This fear may increase if Utopia has to divest its distribution branch. The company has divested technology companies publishing Sentric, Absolute Label Services, and music analysis platform POSTR thanks to the frenzy of acquisitions in 2021 and 2022.

If Utopia divests UDS, the candidate who most likely buys it is a big label. However, Hill claims this will not happen.

"Sony and UMG have no control over the operational workflow on site," Hill said. I don't think they have the desire to go back to doing anything physical distribution they spent years trying to get out of it.